brave bird
by ayasato
Summary: brendan has aerophobia, and everything is may's fault.


**brave bird**

* * *

He clings to her like a lifeline, screwing his eyes shut against the wind as Latios soars ever higher into the pale hoenn sky.

"Actually," she yells over the rolling wind, "it would be a lot safer if you'd just _hold_ onto Latios!"

"N _o!_ " he shrieks back defiantly, tightening the cage of his arms around her middle. At that, the eon pokemon ferrying them harrumphs, a heave down his back, and Brendan shudders as more feathers tickle at his bare legs; god, he hates feathers, he hates birds, he hates _flying_. What irks him most is that both May and Latios are very aware of that, though they should've considered the fact that he will never love the sky again before they'd forced him on this jet plane joyride.

The skin on May's arms are slick with equal amounts of sweat and exasperation. "Come on, Breadhead! take a look at this view!"

Their mode of aerial transport lowers his velocity, slowing down to a gentle cruise; his beanie, miraculously, is still there, albeit askew, but he had been burying his head into May's back for the entirety of the journey hard enough to flatten his hair down permanently. He finds his sense of hearing returned to him, and the faintest crash of ocean waves reach his ears, but he's already terrified of the mere thought of looking down.

" _No,_ just land already!"

"Bre-"

" _Down!_ "

"But-"

" _I'll FALL!_ " he yells, borderline hysterical, and the wind evaporates all the moisture from his mouth. He shuts his trap quickly, but it's too late; his throat is drier than a blue pokeblock, and he doesn't think he'll be talking again until he regenerates enough saliva. God, he hates flying.

May stops speaking; instead, he feels her sigh through the rise and fall of her ribcage. She taps Latios' sleek head, and with a twitch of its ears the psychic-type begins to descend ever so slightly.

May's disappointment is almost tangible; she'd made it no secret earlier that she really, really, _really_ wanted to fly with her best friend to some cool place she'd found in the midst of Hoenn's vast ocean. A thread of guilt tickles his conscious, but he pushes it aside, knowing that everything is actually her fault.

x

Bisque trails zip past under his eyelids, and he's falling again, the wind in his ears deafening and Rayquaza's enraged roar sending vibrations through the air and his body.

He hates flying. The way the wind would pull at him, his hat, his clothes, trying to drag him back into the clouds; his chest would tighten up and it would get hard to breathe, and his body would unconsciously prepare for the inevitable fall into the endless space below.

"You've never been very tough, I guess," she says finally, and her bluntness is sharper than a leaf blade. But she's always this tactless, with her childhood best friend being a spoon and all, so as per usual he can't really bring himself to be mad at her for it.

"So you just noticed?" he scrubs his face with his palm, feeling exhausted and sad. His palm is dirty, too, and he ends up miserably rubbing soil all over his cheeks. Oh, the wonders his new neighbour has brought into his life. "I'm not an adventurer like you, May. I'm a researcher."

"But, I can't ride a bike like you."

"You never took the time to learn..."

"S _ooo_ ," she grins now. "I never biked up the sky pillar!"

"You-"

"And I didn't fall off of Rayquaza and then survive!"

He hugs his knees, tucking his chin into the valley between them as the memories come rushing back - a roar, the terrible sense of vertigo, the ocean rising to welcome him into its depths.

"Why do you treat me falling off Rayquaza at a thousand metres above sea level as something to be happy about?"

The girl brushes a hand through her hair - it's a windswept mess, as always, and its honestly rather stunning, the way the strands stack loosely on her head.

"Well, you sucked at everything before," she's probably referring to every time she'd made him battle her, and his eyebrows furrow at the unjust label, "but then you go on to awaken the pokemon who stopped the world from ending. and you nearly die! But you survive, like, like a hero!"

He's fifteen going on sixteen, his father's favourite lab assistant, and the kid that appeared on the news regularly for a good three months because he'd gone up the sky pillar, somehow ended up on Rayquaza's back and slipped right off as the legendary serpent began its ascent into the sky, destined for Sootopolis.

"Have I told you before? You're really brave."

"Too many times," he lays his arm over his eyes, so that he doesn't have to meet hers, "and while I trust you, May, I won't believe it."

She exhales a little louder.

"Yeah. I know."

The ground doesn't get any more comfortable, but Brendan is so tired from all the yelling and nerves he'd frayed during the flight. He's almost never been more ready to fall asleep, teetering on the edge of the ravine that leads to the realm of unconsciousness.

It's the hot breath on his face that pulls him back with violent force, and he lifts his arm just in time to see May's lips peck his cheek.

A weird choking sound escapes his mouth as she pulls away, beaming at his quick reaction. He quickly rolls onto his side, away from her, holding his burning face in his hands.

"W-wh- _May!_ "

"What's wrong?"

"What- god, May, you d-don't just-" his blubbering makes her break out into an awful giggling fit. It's no different from the time Groudon and Kyogre were quelled, or when May became Hoenn league champion, or when they watched the meteor shower together - she catches him off guard, and he activates his blaze ability. " _-aagh!_ "

"You're hilarious," May manages to breathe, wiping her eyes. "it's just a kiss, Breadhead!"

Of course, of all people, he's stuck with a girl with greater social deficiencies than he. Brendan lies there limply, feeling hopeless, his resentment for flight and a cloud of probably unrequited feelings pooling at the bottom of his mind and resulting in the beginning of a slight migraine.

His chest would tighten up and it would get hard to breathe, and his body would unconsciously prepare for the inevitable fall into the endless space below.

But as he eventually comes back around to face her again, seeing the fond light to her azure eyes, Brendan supposes that there are some skies he'd willingly to fall into.

x

 **review pls**


End file.
